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Motorcycle accidents can be devastating for both the victim and their family. If you or someone you love has been the victim of a motorcycle accident, seeking legal help to file a claim is one of the best decisions you can make. A successful claim can provide an injured party with financial relief to cover medical bills, pain and suffering, loss of wages, and other associated costs.
The process of filing a claim can seem intimidating due to its complexity, so it is important to have expert guidance. With the help of Hastings & Hastings, you’ll know that your case will be handled with the utmost respect, care, and professionalism. Schedule your free case review with a Mesa motorcycle accident lawyer now to learn how we may be able to help you get the results you need.
If you have been injured in an accident and are looking for a motorcycle accident lawyer to help you navigate the process of claiming compensation, look no further. Here’s why you should work with our Mesa personal injury lawyers:
If you need help with a motorcycle accident claim or any other type of personal injury claim, contact us today to schedule a free consultation.
Motorcycle crashes have severe consequences that are often life-threatening. It’s important to be aware of the common causes of motorcycle accidents so you know how to avoid them. Some of the most common causes include the following:
One of the most common causes of motorcycle accidents is when other drivers on the road speed or drive recklessly. When drivers speed, they not only put themselves at risk but also everyone else on the road – including motorcyclists.
Drivers who are speeding are less likely to see motorcyclists and more likely to cause an accident. Our Mesa car accident lawyers have seen plenty of cases involving speeding. If you are involved in a motorcycle accident with a speeding driver, you may be able to hold them liable for your injuries by filing a personal injury lawsuit.
With the rise of cell phones and other electronic devices, distracted driving has become a major problem on roads and highways across the country. Distracted driving is any activity that takes a driver’s attention away from the road – including talking on the phone, texting, checking email, eating, drinking, fiddling with the radio, etc.
Distracted driving is especially dangerous for motorcyclists because they are less visible than other vehicles on the road and more vulnerable to an accident. As a motorcyclist, always drive defensively and assume the other drivers don’t see you.
Another common cause of motorcycle accidents is drunk driving. Drunk drivers have slowed reflexes, poor judgment, and impaired vision, all of which can lead to serious accidents. If you are hit by a drunk driver while riding your motorcycle, you may be able to file a personal injury lawsuit against them to recover compensation for your injuries.
Road hazards are another leading cause of motorcycle accidents. These hazards can include potholes, debris in the road, wet leaves, slick pavement, construction zones, etc. While motorists have the benefit of being surrounded by metal and glass when they encounter these hazards, motorcyclists do not, which makes them much more vulnerable to serious injury if they hit something in the road.
Motorcycle accidents can also be caused by vehicles’ blind spots. Cars and especially trucks have large blind spots that can make it difficult for drivers to see motorcyclists, as our firm has seen in many Mesa truck accident claims. This can lead to dangerous situations where motorcycles are struck by vehicles changing lanes or turning. As a motorcyclist, it’s crucial to be aware of these blind spots and avoid lingering in them to reduce the risk of an accident.
This is not an exhaustive list of motorcycle accident causes. Other causes include the sudden opening of a car door, cars changing lanes without looking, and poor weather conditions.
Statistics show that a motorcyclist is almost 30 times more likely to die in an accident than a person in a passenger vehicle. Although many motorcyclists and their passengers wear helmets, not all do. Even then, while a helmet provides some protection for the head, the rest of the body is not protected; this is especially true when we compare a motorcyclist (with or without a helmet) with a person inside of a vehicle. A motorcyclist will, depending on the type of impact, the speed, and other facts, lay the bike down and make impact with the ground with some part of their body, make impact with the vehicle and then the ground, or get thrown from the bike and make impact with the ground. It’s awful and yet clear why the injuries often sustained can be life-threatening.
Some of the most common injuries from motorcycle accidents include:
If you’ve been in an accident while riding your motorcycle, it’s important to know how to prove fault. Establishing who is at fault for the accident can be critical in getting the compensation you need to cover your medical expenses and other damages that may have resulted from the accident. Here are some steps you should take:
Gather Evidence: The first thing you should do if you are involved in a motorcycle accident is gather evidence. This includes taking photos of the scene, obtaining police reports, collecting contact information for any witnesses at the scene, and most importantly, seeking medical attention as soon as possible. This evidence will help build your case and can provide valuable insights into who is at fault.
Work With an Attorney: The next step is to work with an experienced attorney who specializes in motorcycle accidents. An attorney can help analyze the evidence related to your case and create a strategy for proving fault. They can also assist in determining what type of insurance coverage you may be eligible for and what kind of financial compensation may be available to you after an accident.
Working with an experienced Mesa motorcycle accident lawyer can make all the difference when it comes to recovering damages after a motorcycle crash.
Prove Negligence: For someone to be held liable for your injuries, they must have acted negligently. It will be your attorney’s job to prove that someone else was negligent and you are therefore owed compensation.
There are four main elements to proving negligence: duty, breach, causation, and damages. Keep reading for a closer look at each element.
Duty: The first step is to show that the other party owed you a duty of care. In other words, they had an obligation to act in a certain way to protect you from harm. All drivers have a duty to operate their vehicles in a reasonably safe manner, so this is the easiest element to prove.
Breach: Once you’ve established that the other party owed you a duty of care, you must then show that they breached that duty. In other words, you must show that they failed to act in the way that a reasonable person would have under similar circumstances. For example, if another driver was speeding and crashed into your motorcycle, they would be considered to have breached their duty of care.
Causation: The next step is to show that the other party’s breach of duty was the direct cause of your injuries. In other words, but for their negligence, you wouldn’t have been injured.
Damages: Finally, you must show that you suffered some type of damages as a result of the accident. This could include medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and more.
If you’ve been injured in a motorcycle accident and are looking to file a personal injury lawsuit, it’s important to understand how fault will be determined in your case. In Arizona, the legal doctrine of pure comparative negligence is used to apportion fault among the parties in a personal injury case.
This means that even if you are partially at fault for an accident, you may still be able to recover compensation for your injuries, but your compensation will be reduced by an amount equal to your percentage of fault.
Let’s say you are involved in a car accident caused by a speeding driver who ran a red light, but you also rolled a stop sign. You may be tempted to assume that you have no chance of recovering compensation because you were also distracted at the time of the accident and rolled through a stop sign just before the collision.
However, under pure comparative negligence, even though you were partially at fault for the accident, you would still be able to recover compensation from the other driver; the compensation would just be reduced by the amount equal to your percentage of fault.
If you’ve been in a motorcycle accident, you may be wondering what types of compensation you can recover. The answer depends on the specifics of your accident, but in general, the following are the main types of compensation that you may be eligible for:
Medical expenses include any costs incurred as a result of your injuries, such as ambulance fees, hospital stays, surgeries, and rehabilitation.
In addition, if your injuries are severe, you may require long-term care or assistance with daily activities. These costs can quickly add up, so it’s important to understand the full extent of your injuries and the potential financial implications before making any decisions about pursuing legal action.
Lost wages refer to any income you would have earned had you not been injured in the accident. This includes both your regular salary and any bonuses or commissions you would have earned. If you are unable to work while you recover from your injuries, lost wages can have a significant impact on your financial stability.
If your motorcycle was damaged or destroyed in the accident, you may be able to recover the cost of repairs or replacement from the other driver’s insurance company or through a personal injury lawsuit.
In addition to economic damages like medical expenses and lost wages, you may also be able to recover noneconomic damages for things like pain and suffering. Pain and suffering can be difficult to quantify. To recover these types of damages, you will need to provide evidence of the physical and emotional anguish you have experienced as a result of the accident.
Since insurance is required for anyone driving on the roadways, regardless of whether it is a motorcycle or a passenger vehicle, the big question then becomes should you trust the insurance company and talk to them alone? Will they do what’s right?
It would be nice if all insurance companies would do what they should when a motorcycle accident occurs. All too often, that’s just not the case. Insurance may be a legal obligation that all drivers have, but insurance companies are for-profit companies. They want to make more money than they pay out. It’s important that you protect your rights. Don’t sign anything or give a recorded statement (or any statement) to the insurance company without a Mesa motorcycle accident attorney looking out for your best interest.
Determining the worth of your motorcycle injury claim can’t be done on a website. It depends on the facts involved in your claim. It also depends largely on:
If you or someone you love was hurt or even killed in a Mesa motorcycle accident, the skilled lawyers at Hastings & Hastings are here to help you. We understand the laws surrounding motorcycle accidents and we’re here to help. Learn more by scheduling your free case review now.